Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and its relevance to Environmental Law:

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Constitution is most often discussed in terms of what is has to
say about specific, narrow, questions. We hear about the First Amendment and free speech, the Second Amendment
and gun control, the Fifth Amendment and takings. Often the messages and debate are orchestrated by special
interests who may have an incentive to focus the discussion-- and the publics attention -- on a few words.

The Constitutional Law Foundation seeks to encourage a broader discussion of the general purpose and intent
of the entire document. Start at the beginning is often good advice. We encourage those who wish
to understand the Constitution to do just that: start at the beginning.

The Constitution itself starts with a Preamble, which indicates the general purpose for which the people
ordained and established the Constitution [Jacobson
v. Mass. 197 US 11 (1904)]. What better place could there be to start looking for the essence of the Constitution?

There is another beginning-- the social, cultural, and spiritual attitudes of those who wrote and adopted the
document. Only by trying to understand these beginnings can we understand the Constitution. This site is dedicated
to helping you start at the beginning as you explore the Constitution. We hope that the debate about
the details will continue. We should all try to understand the first, second and fifth amendments-- and the
other narrow slices of the Constitution that current debates center on. But we must go beyond the details -
the Articles and Amendments can not be understood in isolation. They must be considered in light of the general
purpose of the Constitution, and an understanding of the beliefs of its framers and adopters.

The Preamble of the United States Constitution states: "We the people of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common
defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." In this statement of the purpose
of the United Stated Constitution, and thus of our Government, we have an explanation of 1) who established
the Government: "We the People" 2) for what purpose we established that government:
"to form a more perfect union.... and secure the Blessings of Liberty" and 3)
the beneficiaries of our action: "ourselves and our Posterity." There can be no
doubt that each word of this statement was carefully chosen, and that each has a purpose. [Richfield Oil v.
State Board, 329 U.S. 69 (1946)] The fact that the Constitution explicitly names "our Posterity" as a beneficiary
of government action can neither be dismissed nor ignored. The framers and ratifiers of the Constitution clearly
intended to create a sustainable society, and instructed their government to respect that fact. Unfortunately,
"We the People" soon forgot this remarkable obligation to create a sustainable society, and the Constitution's
"Posterity clause" slipped into oblivion. The Constitutional Law Foundation intends to end the neglect that
the "posterity clause" has suffered, and to start a fight for recognition of the Government's obligations to
consider the impacts of its actions on Posterity. It is time to make the Constitution's "posterity clause" the
subject of a national debate.